structive nature, and the name of Doddridge will not fail of procuring it numerous readers. The New Monthly Magazine,' (London,) gives the following account of its contents. "The portion of Doddridge's correspondence now published is exclusively that of his youth, extending only to his twenty seventh year, and containing little of the grave matters, and graver discussions, the reader might haply anticipate from so venerable a name. The topics are chiefly relative to matters of personal interest; to the course of his education; to the subjects of his lighter readings; the affairs of his friends; the state of his feelings and affections; his solitude in the obscure village he resides in; and the unlicked and unintelligent society his intercourse with the world is confined to. He was not yet in conflict with much of the important business of life. In a subsequent portion, we shall find him in correspondence with all the more influential of his own class, and with many of the distinguished personages of the day, appealed to as authority, and respected as a sage and a saint; but with this we have at present nothing to do. If the reader be disappointed by lack of incidents, or the absence of weighty topics, he will be amply repaid by the truth and nature, that reign through the whole of his communications with his familiar friends. writes with all the warmth and vivacity of youth; free from all affectation, and unrestrained by any mistrust. He has no misgivings, no apprehension of misconstruction in the midst of what has occasionally an air of levity. Light-hearted and unsophisticated, he indulges his nat

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ural gaiety and turn for humor, and gives expression to the promptings of a playful fancy, in a tone of innocent badinage, that must be felt at once to be perfectly guileless. Mr Humphreys has clipped away none of his exuberance; he is too wise a man to comply with the fastidious and sectarian admirers of Dr Doddridge. "Should the gaiety of expression," says he, "conspicuous in much of the correspondence, be to any a source of offence, I wish them warmer hearts and sounder heads.""

This notice relates only to a part of the correspondence. The remainder, with the Diary, says the journal just quoted, is promised next season, when ample opportunities will be afforded us of presenting this excellent, liberal-minded person in the light, which his admirers (some of them at least,) probably think he ought only to have appeared in. That is not our opinion. We like him the better for his humanity. Things as they are, is our motto, and away with disguises.'--The specimens of the work which we have seen, certainly partake of nothing of the ascetic spirit, and much of it will be read with no little surprise by a portion, at least, of those, who have known Doddridge only in the character of a sober divine. Some parts of his amatory correspondence, particularly, will be deemed, and justly, by most persons of correct feeling, in these improved times, as objectionable for their silliness, if not on a graver ac

count.

THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL AT CAMBRIDGE.

THIS Institution, it has been said, and we believe with truth, is the only one, on this continent, designed exclusively to prepare young men for the ministry, in which students in divinity can begin, pursue, and complete their theological course,without being required to profess their preference for any particular human formulary of faith or mode of church government. The Bible is their only authority in regard both to belief and practice; and every one is left perfectly free to interpret the sacred writings for himself, and to adhere, without the least apprehension of reproach either from his instructers or fellow students, to whatever conclusions, in these respects, he may arrive at, by the honest, exercise of his own mind. This is as it should be. Such an institution deserves the encouragement of an enlightened and liberal community; and we are gratified to find that the one, of which we speak, is growing more and more in the public favor. The class, last entered, belonged to the school;

is by far the largest that has and the demands for ministers of our denomination, have at no period, we learn, been so frequent and pressing as at the present. Three have been settled since the year began; Mr Green at Cambridge, Mr Barnard at Wilton, N. H., and Mr. Thayer at Beverly. Invitations have also been given to four others; from Walpole, N. H. to Mr Whitwell; from Concord to Mr Goodwin; from Natick to Mr Thompson; and from Berlin to Mr Walcutt.

It is our duty to observe and scrutinize the aspects of the passing age, and as occasion may invite or demand, we should utter our fears, or express our convictions. The present is a season strongly marked in its characteristics. There is much in the aspect of the times to delight and encourage the friends of human improvement. But who can deny-what wise or good man will deny,—that there are serious evils by which the age is oppressed? After all the progress that has been made, and with all the high impulses that are now in action, who does not perceive the existence of some great defect? Society needs some essential change, in its habits, its principles or its purposes. The christian world is not what it should be. This indeed is not a new complaint. At no time since the apostolic age has the church presented that appearance of spiritual health,

which should belong to the body, of which, in the figurative language of scripture, Christ is the head. Different maladies have seized on it; ignorance, superstition, bigotry, and pride, have fastened themselves upon it with united force, and once it nearly sunk under their power. The diseases of former periods we can discover,-may we not ascertain the nature of those which are at present counteracting the influences of the gospel? What is the fault of the times? what is it that prevents the developement of those energies which Christianity carries in its spirit.

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If our readers acknowledge that there is some great defect in society, they will be as anxious as we for its discovery and correction. But some persons may doubt its existence. Look then into the christian world, and compare the actual effects of the gospel with its inherent power. Where are the proofs of its mighty energy? where its achievements that ir its divine origin? In the breasts of its disciples, do you reply? We acknowledge its efficacy in thousands of hearts; but the number of them who bear the christian name is estimated as more than two hundred millions. Where is the evidence that Christianity acts powerfully on these souls? There are said to be sixty million Protestants. Does Christianity accomplish its purposes among them? A few striking facts will not afford an answer to this question. What is the general character of society? what its prevailing tone? what the predominant tendency of its action? To these points must observation be directed; and when it is